Nothing's Sacred
by WardofDawn
Summary: Set after the reaper war, Tali has returned home to Rannoch and is beginning to settle in to her new life. But when a new threat endangers everything that she holds dear she is forced to leave her home and face it. With new and old allies.
1. Chapter 1

A/N Just a quick one to start off the story. This is just a small chapter to give you a small taste of my first fic.I will try to update weekly or more regularly once I get a chance. Just dealing with exams right now. Please review and comment and let me know what you think of my first fic.

Tali was very conflicted, it was 6 months since the end of the reaper war and Shepard had nearly finished building her a home on Rannoch, just like he had promised. Whilst it made her overjoyed to finally be able to live on her ancestors' homeworld and live outside her suit when she was in her home (thanks in part to the Geth); she did not, however, fathom why he had to bring _her._ She had grown to like Ashley over the course of her time on the Normandy, well after she'd stopped looking at her like she thought she stole something obviously, but she still regretted that Shepard had chosen her instead. Despite her suit, she always thought that there was chemistry between them. She sighed, deciding to spend her time on more productive things than procrastinating about her failed love life and turned back to the hob to finish cooking breakfast.

Ashley and Shepard came down the stairs at the same time and perched themselves on the stools at the marble breakfast bar that she 'simply had to have' and was 'the best thing since sliced bread', whatever that meant. 'Morning Tali, what you cooking, smells great' asked Shepard, eagerly eyeing the cooker. 'I made you two some bacon and eggs since you like them so much. I and I have the absolute delight that is nutrient paste'. Despite now being out of her suit and all the advances that the Quarians and Geth had made with their immune systems they had been more interested in infrastructure than inventing new foods. 'You'd think they'd try to do something about that really, ah well, ours smells great by the way. What have you got planned for today?' replied Shepard. 'Just more admiral stuff I'm afraid, you'd think that after 6 months the building plans and land applications would have slowed but they haven't; admiral Xen also thinks that these things all need to be handled by admirals for some reason' 'Me and Ash are going to go and finish up in the spare room and then we thought that we would make a start on the garden this afternoon, if that sounds good to you?'. 'It sounds absolutely perfect Shepard; I can't thank you enough for all that you have done for me.' She hugged Shepard before giving Ashley a curt nod and going to get her stuff ready, steadily eating her paste as she put on her envirosuit. She shouted another short goodbye through to the kitchen as she walked out the front door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **A/N- My exams ae almost over and I have no more school until September now so I will try to update this more regularly. I have a plan for where I want this story to go and I promise I will be done with the set up after this chapter. Please review and comment to let me know what you think.**

She walked down the steps at the front of her home and made her way over to her skycar, she quickly engaged the autopilot to take her to work. Three quarters of an hour later the skycar entered the skies of Rahain, the first Quarian city on a planet in over 300 years. Tali had never gotten used to the gleaming spires of more modern buildings intermingled with the more historic stone buildings from before the exile of the quarian race. Most of the remaining 10 million Quarians that had survived the reaper and geth wars live here for now until they could claim their own piece of land. Tali saw the throngs of 'normal' Quarians walking around in the shops and restaurants that occupied most of the lower floors of the buildings. The signs of construction that surrounded the city always made Tali swell with pride, with all that her species could accomplish in such a short time. In the distance she could just make out some of the first private Quarian homes being built on the land their owners had managed to secure.

The shuttle landed on the top of a relatively large and squat building right in the middle of the centre of the city, the words ADMIRALTY BUILDING were emblazoned in gold on the side, it was one of the finest buildings and was one of the first to be made. It had been designed to deal with all of the land disputes and other issues that came from making a technologically advanced society from scratch, she could already see a line of Quarians forming outside of the large double doors and she sighed; it was going to be a long day. She got out of the skycar and crossed the roof to the elevator, as she descended toward the admiralty chamber she had to restrain herself from punching the body length mirror on the wall 'Keelah!' she shouted ' Even with the Geth the elevators are still slow as crap! I'll have to bring it up once we've dealt with everything else, which will be never…' When the doors finally opened she crossed the marble entrance floor to the auditorium and mentally braced herself for another day of political BS…

Tali managed to avoid strangling admiral Korris for the whole day until she managed to escape about the same time as the sun clipped the horizon. As she stepped out onto the room she couldn't help a shiver escape down her spine; she always felt like that when she left work, like she was being watched, but put it down to paranoia after many years of combat situations on the Normandy. So instead of taking note of the small, round shadows that she thought that she kept seeing everywhere she just got in her skycar and started to head home. When her house came into view Tali gasped, from the way that it approached she had a perfect view of her now started garden, Ashley and Shepard must have been closer to finishing the spare room than she thought judging by the amount that they had managed to get done in the garden. The 400m squared of lawn she got approved by the other admirals was now a quarter covered in Khahis grass and a small pond had been dug and filled in, in one corner. She had plans to add a patio and a hot tub soon, she had been unable to try and swim yet and had still only had showers so was looking forward to the experience of relaxing in the warm, swirling waters.

'Guys I'm back!' Tali shouted as she walked through the front door, 'Hey Tali, we're in here with some food if you want?' Shepard called through from the kitchen. 'We need to talk to you too Tali' Added Ashley from the same place. 'Okay, I'll just get out of my envirosuit and I'll be right there'. Five minutes later she was back downstairs dressed in some jeans that she had managed to alter so they fit her and a blouse, it was a lovely shade of black that perfectly complimented her light purple skin. She looked at the 'food' that Shepard had prepared for her and laughed 'Shepard, squeezing out some nutrient paste onto a plate does not constitute cooking!' 'Hey I warmed that and everything!' Shepard replied, feigning injury. 'Anyway me and Ash need to talk to you quickly' 'Yes me and John are going away on official _Spectre_ business, we're leaving Thursday and probably won't be back for about 3 months, it's a _very important_ mission' cut in Ashley. 'Yep that's pretty much it, we'll be done with the house by then anyway but we'd like to come back for a bit afterwards, until we find a place to live anyway?' finished Shepard. 'Err…I…um…yeah sure Shepard, yeah that's fine for both, the house will be a little empty but I guess that it was inevitable. Any idea what the mission is?' stuttered Tali in reply. 'Just investigating a new merc group that has been becoming more active recently' explained Shepard.

The next few days passed in a blur.

Tali went to work like normal but was still unable to get over the feeling that she was being followed everywhere she went. Ashley and Shepard had also managed to finish off the rest of the house and had begun packing all of their weapons and armour Thursday evening; they only had a few bits left now to load on the shuttle that the council had sent to retrieve them. 'Well I think that that's us then' said Shepard as he hoisted the last duffle bag into the shuttle 'Keep in touch and we'll see you in a few months' 'Okay I will, I'll miss you Shepard' Tali replied whilst hugging him. 'Bye Ashley' she gave the human woman a curt nod which was returned before watching as the shuttle took her best friend away from her. She turned around and walked back inside…

 **A/N- Just another quick one to end. Please review and comment as I would love to hear all of your opinions. I'm also going to try and keep regular Saturday updates from now on, hopefully they'll be a little earlier than this. M**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **A/N- So regular updates happened huh?...Oops. I am sorry about the impromptu hiatus but I ended up with a lot on my plate with my new summer job and then sixth form. I managed to draft this quite a while back but just couldn't motivate myself too actually to type it up. Despite my apparent death I have not been completely negligent with this story as I have planned another 5 chapters and they are completely mapped out now. Anyways any and all reviews are appreciated. Thanks.**

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Tali

Sitting at her now rather lonely dining table Tali was contemplating the fact that she was slowly falling into insanity…Instead of just the feeling of being watched following her everywhere, she had also begun to see a human shape watching her from rooftops and small round shadows would appear in her peripherals (what she had with her mask on anyway). It was driving her slowly mad. Due to her considering her deteriorating mind she didn't hear the bleeping from just outside her door before it, along with most of the wall surrounding it were completely atomised and other sections were slammed through the kitchen-space. The opening was quickly filled with an assortment of mercs; two Asari armed with Tempest submachine guns came in first swiftly followed by three Turians toting vindicator assault rifles and last came _A Volus?_ That was the last thing that she had expected to see with the mercs _, explains the round shadows I keep seeing, guess I'm not mad_ she thought before one of the Asari used a biotic throw to slam her against a wall and knock her out.

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?

Sighing, he watched the unconscious Quarian get bundled unceremoniously out of the skycar she had arrived in and dragged by her arms across the broken concrete into the pre morning war research station. He had been watching the Quarian and the station for a while and knew that there were at least 10 mercs already waiting within. The only thing that eluded him was _why_ they wanted her. He pulled his AR of his back and clicked the scope cover off and checked over the building; there were thick red metal doors covering every entrance and it was made of stone and therefore it was gonna be hard to get in. His eyes landed on a small concentration of cracks and the man smiled, he had his way in.

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

Tali

She groggily forced her eyes open and forced herself to take in her surroundings, she was marvelling at the lovely ornate metal catwalks and stone columns when she noticed a thick crack spanning the width of her visor. Panicking, she went to open the suit diagnostic program on her Omni-tool to check for any breaches only to find that her arms were unable to do so. Deciding that she would be dead if there was one, or at least severely ill, she decided to focus on her surroundings instead. Terminals were scattered sporadically along the walls and there were supply crates lying in piles around the room; she then noticed metal catwalks strung about five meters above her head. Two Vorcha and three humans were standing them, all armed with assault rifles, they were generally just milling round and not seeming to be paying attention. The group that had taken her now walked towards her, guns drawn, with the Volus at the front. 'Why am I here?' Tali blurted out before thinking it through. 'You were the logical choice- the strongest clanless'.

'What! What are you talking about?'

Just before the Volus answered the wall just above one of the catwalks exploded in a shower of debris and green energy as a figure erupted through the wall sheathed in a biotic charge and slammed into one of the human guards, sending him sailing over the railing of the catwalk and to the floor where he came to a stop, neck broken. As the dust cleared a humanoid shape emerged, clothed in customised dark green and black armour. He barely paused before going on the offensive again; springing an Omni-blade from his wrist he impaled another of the human guards through the heart, killing him instantly. The now dead human was used as a shield by the unknown human as the bodies back was torn to bloody ribbons by the other three mercs on the catwalk, the human pulled out a white pistol and fired three times. Instead of the usual mass effect propelled rounds, three spherical balls were sent flying towards the other mercs. They slammed into their targets and stuck there for a second before exploding, for a few seconds it rained armour, blood and organs onto the ground below, there was only three reddish smudges where the men had been. The Human then launched himself from the catwalk and deactivated his Omni-blade as he went; his fist now encased in a dark green glow as he unleashed a powerful nova upon impact with the ground. The chair that Tali was currently strapped to was sent flying onto its side and several feet back from the Volus' group, it also stripped all five of the mecs that surrounded the Volus of their shields and left them nearly defenceless. The human quickly detached a Geth pulse rifle from his back and began unloading its large thermal clip capacity into the mercs, two of the Turians and one of the Asari fell under the onslaught before the last Asari created a barrier to stop his incendiary rounds dead. The Asari and Turian then began to return fire from their position behind one of the crates as the Volus hid behind a pillar. The human quickly pulled his pistol and popped low out of cover to get of a few shots which all hit the mercs cover, right on the 'Highly Explosive Materials' sticker that was stuck to the side. The Asari and Turian only had time of swear in their respective languages before their blood gave the walls a fresh coat of paint.

The human rose surely from his cover and began stalking over towards the Volus, he got halfway before a door that she hadn't noticed earlier slammed open and three mercs came out, guns raised and hit he would be rescuer with a trifecta of concussive shots. They sent him flying backwards, through a pile of crates and through a wall into an office beyond, thankfully the wall was far more recent than the rest of the structure and was only a temporary thing so wasn't made of stone.

'So much for bad guys having Stormtrooper aim' thought Tali from her position sideways on the floor. The five recent additions to the room (two more had come in after the original three) were now celebrating their own badassery which, in her opinion, was a bit pig headed. They were all having a whale of a time until a very _large_ and very _angry_ object came back in through the wall from which it had just exited. The first merc was simply dismembered by the power of the impact, an Omni- blade then sprung from each of the strangers wrists and he slammed one through a mecs heart as he decapitated another one with the blade on his other arm, ducking low, he sliced the next one clean through from his groin to his head and stabbed another in the through as he twisted, putting himself in the perfect position to slice the last merc clean in half horizontally. Finally he purposely walked over to the Volus and slammed a biotically charged fist through its environmental suit, covering himself in a Volus cocktail as the depressurisation ripped all of the Volus' body out of the relatively small hole.

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?

Having covered his 'Inter-species relations' quota for the day , Oliver smiled and collapsed his helmet into the back of his armour, walking over to the trapped Quarian as he pressed the button . He then walked over to the Quarian who was still strapped to the chair on her side, tipping her upright he asked 'Well, I've got to stop meeting attractive women like this, what's your name Miss….?'

'Zorah, Tali Zorah vas Rannoch; if this is how you meet all your women I am concerned for you.'

'Hm. Tali Zorah, crew of Commander Shepard during the reaper war.' Oliver finished untying her wrists and legs at this point so she got up and turned around to face him. 'You are?'

'Oliver Stark, temporarily ex Special Tactics and Recon'

'Why ex SPECTRE?'

'Well the council decided to take my ship about a month after I received it as they believed that Humans had got more out of the joint project than the Turians so they wanted it for a bit so they could give it to some rookie Turian SPECTRE, so I told them to fuck off and walked out, they still got my ship though.'

Tali chuckled 'You really said that to the council?'

'Yeah, why? What's funny?'

'You remind me of someone I used to know, that's all. Thanks for redecorating' Tali said, gesturing towards the various colours of blood flowing down the walls. Oliver scratched the back of his neck nervously,' sorry about that'.

'Oh I'm not complaining, I very much appreciate not being dead right now, how'd you find me anyway?' Tali quickly replied.

'Well I was following that piece of shit' Oliver said as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the mangled Volus corpse' when I saw him take you I decided to look like a hero and help you out. Besides, most species are all concentrated on their homeworld in order to rebuild after the war, apart from the odd merc of course; it was really weird to see a Volus however, especially on Rannoch as your economy is so new there is very little in the way of trading agreements to attract him and you need all your natural resources to build a new society. So I decided to check it out. I was on world because I had heard tales of Rannoch's beauty and wanted to see it with my own, recently unemployed eyes.'

Oliver then went back over to the Volus' corpse and removed its Omni-tool and opened it up before his face paled slightly 'Holy shit, I knew that the Volus made a killing during the war but there are _Trillions_ of credits here! Most of them are being sent to Illium.' He closes the device and places it in one of the pockets in his armour. 'I'll get you somewhere safe here and then I'm off to Illium.'

'Well that's not happening, I'm going with you. I'm not safe here and you know it, plus as a member of the new Rannoch government I must make sure that I address any and all threats to my people!'

'Okay, Okay you can come, I just didn't think you'd want to leave your homeworld so soon after getting it back, that's all. Jeez.' Oliver replied hastily. 'Besides it'd be nice to have company, I read about how you stayed with Shepard, even when he was with Cerberus, that can't have been easy. I really respect you for that.'

'Th…thanks, it erm wasn't, I'll, erm, go and get my stuff.' she stuttered out.

'Lead the way' Oliver replied. He tossed Tali a Graal Spike Launcher as they both walked towards the exit. 'I'm going to go with you, I don't know if they'll try again'.

'Oh Keelah, why am I always the target of some assassin attempt or plot or major war?!' Tali cried in exasperation as she followed.

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A/N- First fight scene woo! This took way too long to put up but I have the next chapter written so it will hopefully be up soon. I really would appreciate any suggestions or feedback. Hope you enjoyed .M


	4. Goodbye

**A/N- to anyone whom it may concern (no one probably but ah well). I done fucked it up. I wrote the start of this story without a plan and as a result screwed myself over, I may come back to this story at some time in the future but as for now it shall be considered on hiatus. I am going to start a new story instead soon (hopefully) that I have already got far more planned out for and I am also trying something a little easier in the realm of SI. I am sorry to anyone, if anyone actually cares. But this story is currently dead.**

 ***pulls out gun and points it at half written chapter. 'You have failed me'. BANG.**

 **Bye all, hopefully see you at some point on my new story,**


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